2018 Arizona Legislative Session Summary

The 2018 regular Arizona Legislative session has officially ended. Our lawmakers’ work at the capitol is done for now, but we still have a lot of work ahead to enact strong policies that will prevent cancer and improve the outlook for cancer patients.  

While this session was dominated by long simmering education funding issues and a contentious budget stalemate, we still made some significant progress on our top priorities thanks to the efforts of ACS CAN advocates like you across the state.

Funding for the Arizona Well Woman Healthcheck Program was preserved in the state budget. More than $1.3 million is dedicated to this program that provides free mammograms and pap tests for low income, uninsured women. If those women are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer, they can qualify for treatment through the state Medicaid program.

Sadly, our other top two legislative priorities did not fare as well. The proposal to raise the purchase age for tobacco products to 21 did make it through the House Health committee again this year, but was once again denied a hearing in the Commerce Committee, killing the effort.

The legislation to prohibit the use of indoor tanning devices by minors actually was passed by the House twice, thanks to the outstanding efforts of so many advocates, but didn’t receive a vote in the Senate. Despite this setback, the second passage of the tanning bill in the House gave us the opportunity to press Senators on their support of the bill. As a result of this extra action taken by our volunteers, we have a great prospect list for potential cosponsors for the bill next session.

An opioid reform package was introduced earlier this year to restrict access to opioids for many patients. ACS CAN was successful in ensuring that cancer, hospice and palliative care patients would still have access to appropriate pain medications.

None of this progress would happen without the actions of our members and volunteers, and this legislative session saw record engagement of ACS CAN members at the State Capitol. More than 300 attendees at our annual Day at the Capitol event set the stage for relationships with elected officials that will be key to our success next year and beyond.

Thank you for every email, phone call and other action you took – we will continue to need your help looking ahead to the coming months and 2019!

Please let us know if you are interested in becoming more involved as a volunteer for ACS CAN by contacting Alyss Patel, AZ Grassroots Manager, at [email protected]. And keep following our activities on Facebook and Twitter!